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hot, Hot HOT!

Right now the temperature has backed off a bit, but this afternoon it was just over 92 degrees.  Humidity wasn't much lower either.  I tried to stay inside, but ended up going bonkers just staring at the computer screen.  So, if a fit of stupidity, I trudged out to the garage and started sorting out "stuff" and throwing away most of it.

 I have hunting togs from a few years ago when it was feasible to drive out to Colorado and hunt Elk. You have to wear blaze orange over 75% of your body according to regs so I just went out and bought an orange coverall.  Works nicely too, but doesn't have many pockets for extra ammo and the odd apple or two.  So, while I was at it I bought an orange back pack for the goodies.  I kept that, but got rid of the orange suit because it is heavily padded and will keep you warm in the Arctic, but not much good here in Ohio even during duck season (I know, Duck Season!  Wabbit Season!  Duck Season! etc)

I also ran across an antler mounting kit from a birthday two years ago (Aha!  That's where it went!)  Now I can finally mount those 5-point Mule deer antlers from 4 years ago. Keep that.

Now, this is strange.....why am I keeping four computer hard drives, all under 3Gb, clearly marked as being faulty (runs hot, chatters, read errors, dead)?

Anyone want a nice video adapter card?  It has a grand total of 2Mb of RAM on it. (S3 Virge 2D)

Wayyyyy over here in the corner -- what is it?  Egad!  It's a bag of birdseed that I thought I'd put out for the birds last winter.  Oh well, they'll never know the difference so I'll give it to them now.

 Hmmmmm. What is that paint sprayer doing there?  I thought I'd loaned it out.

 Now, inside this old, faded, green box we have ... a Pong Set! (Remember that from the 60's?)  Plug in some new batteries, hook it to the TV - woops, no antenna input on the TV.  Drag out the little battery-operated portable and connect it -- viola!  It works.

Over here, in this cardboard box - socks. Good old feet socks, all mismatched.  This must be where the drier spits them out when I'm not looking.  Funny, I didn't notice any large aluminum tube coming out of the basement from the drier.

I have five varying size camping tents.  I don't know from whence they came, but they take up space here. And a gas stove.  And a catalytic heater.  And a complete picnic basket with all the stuff still in it.

If I just slide (oof) this over here (unnh) and move that to the wall (gritch) and sweep up all that broken glass (from what I don't know) then I can park the lawn tractor right here.

Taa Daa!  All done.  Now, for a cold one.

 

Current mood: Aggrivated Arthrytis Pain #2


Still chugging along.

After I got back from my trip to Texas I started in again working on the DHR.  We have made quite a bit of progress, but still have a long way to go.  We would sure like to have this done by summer, but probably won't until maybe winter.  We are all working hard, but still need more helpers with what we call "set dressing".  Basically, you need a copy of TRS2004 (From Auran.com or your local megastore) and the ability to drop our content around terrain and tracks that have already been placed.  Nothing to it really.  Loads of fun.

I started on another area of the route called the Batasia Loop and dropped scenery all around.  Since we have a few DVD's and videos to look at we are able to get scenes that look much like the real thing.  The hard part (believe it or not) is actually doing the areas that we don't have video shots of.  We try to keep with the "look & feel" of India though and make the flora & fauna match the geographical area.

I will be putting together what we call a "skinny" route soon.  This is basically the route itself and consists of just baseboards with track on it.  The full route would be around 200Mb, but the Skinny only hits around 40 or so.

Anyone who wants to help can send me an email either here or on the email link at our site located at the URL of 'www.darjeelingtrains.com'.  Love to have you join our merry band.

 

Current mood: raising steam

Time certainly does fly

It seems just the other day I got back from Texas, but it's been over a month. Been very busy here setting out flowers, cutting grass, and doing "outside" stuff. I just HAVE to get more exercise. I'm starting to bloat up like the Michelin Man . The BP meds I'm taking tend to make me retain water so I have to take diuretics also. Endless chain of tail chasing, but it is going to get better now that summer is approaching.

And, no sooner do I mention summer and the temperature is supposed to go down to 40 here tonight. I turned the heater (actually it's a heat pump) on just to keep the house around 70 or so. The wife gets bone-cold very fast and it makes her joints stiff - mine too, for that matter. I know - just stay out of those joints. Rain is no fun, but just cold weather makes for more aches and pains than it used to. When I lived in Colorado we used to run into the mountains for not particular reason at all, but now, we hardly leave the house unless the temperature is nice. We'd go out much more if the bloody gas wasn't so expensive. Right here in Ohio it runs the same as California now - around $3.30 a gallon. Luckily, my car gets around 30 miles/gallon. The wife's car let a little less than that, and my pickup gets around 22 or 24. We want to drive out to my daughter's house in Colorado, but can't afford the gas. In Kansas, for instance, the way we want to go, will cost us around $3.50+ per gallon. No way will we be able to continue onward to visit friends in California. That's almost another 1300 miles or so from Boulder, which is 1200 miles from here.

I've been flying a little less with my pals than normal. My gaming computer is giving me fits every once in a while. I get a "chukka-chukka" sound (which I think is the heads resetting) and up pops a notice that a "delayed write failed for file $xnn - try to save it somewhere else". Well, of course, this is a system file and no amount of persuasion is going to let XP tell me where the damn file actually IS so I'm left just clicking the stupid "OK" button - even though it definitely isn't OK! I began backups today - all 66Gb of data. I've been doing them sporadically for a while, but this time I brought them up to date. Hell of a lot of data there - mostly Train and Flight simulator files. Running the backup to a USB external 80GB disk that I can disconnect from the computer and put on a shelf until I need it. Luckily, the backup software has compression.

We got 1.25 inches of rain two days ago. Storm snuck up on us and blew over in just over two hours. Caused all kinds of wind damage in nearby towns, but didn't hit us too hard. Blew my bird feeders down though. Before I got up in the morning the squirrels had eaten every bit of feed. Furry beggars.

Later......